Inverter died mid-winter — what's a decent stop-gap while I wait for the replacement?

Been there mate, absolute nightmare timing.

When my old Victron Phoenix gave up the ghost in January a couple of years back, I grabbed a Giandel 2000W pure sine from Amazon as a stop-gap. Cost me around £120 if I remember right. Nowhere near as polished as the Victron obviously, but it ran my heating controls, laptop, and the kettle without complaint for the three weeks I was waiting on the replacement.

Few things worth considering when you're picking a temporary unit:

• Pure sine only — don't be tempted by modified sine to save a few quid. Anything with a motor or a compressor will thank you for it
• Check the continuous vs peak rating carefully on cheaper units, they tend to be optimistic
• Make sure the input voltage range suits your battery bank — some budget inverters are fussier than you'd expect with lithium setups

I'm running a 200Ah Fogstar Drift lithium now and the budget Giandel actually played nicely with it, which surprised me a bit.

The way I see it, you're not marrying the thing — you just need it to survive the cold spell. Buy something with decent reviews and a returns window, keep the packaging, and send it back once your proper kit arrives.

What inverter died on you and what size are you needing to replace? Might narrow down what's worth grabbing in a hurry.

@Geordie what was the actual failure mode on the Phoenix? Asking because I'm paranoid about my own setup on the boat and want to know what warning signs to look for before it goes the same way.

Also — did the Giandel cope with any inductive loads while you were running it? That's the bit that always worries me with cheap stop-gaps. Compressor fridges, pumps, that sort of thing. I've got a 12V compressor fridge on the boat and the startup surge is the thing that kills budget inverters stone dead in my experience.

What size battery bank were you pulling from? Wondering if an undersized bank makes these cheaper units more likely to trip out or throw errors.

Really sorry to hear you're in this situation — mid-winter inverter failure is genuinely rough, especially if you're relying on it for heating or refrigeration.

A few things worth considering for a stop-gap beyond just grabbing whatever's on Amazon:

• EcoFlow or Jackery power stations can bridge the gap surprisingly well for lighter loads — I've used my EcoFlow Delta as emergency backup at the static whilst waiting on a Victron Multiplus repair
• Check Screwfix or Toolstation for their own-brand units — available next-day and returnable easily
• Wattage headroom matters enormously; whatever your peak load is, double it minimum

@DodgyMechanic — failure modes on Victron kit are worth a separate thread honestly, there's real diagnostic value in understanding those patterns for preventative maintenance.

What loads are you actually trying to cover in the interim? That'll help narrow down sensible options considerably.

@Geordie been through almost exactly this on the narrowboat — grabbed a Victron Phoenix 1200W as a "temporary" measure two winters ago and it's still running my kettle while the "proper" unit sits boxed up judging me from the shelf 😅

Worth noting if you're doing any EV charging off your stop-gap, check the continuous wattage not just the peak — cheaper units lie like politicians about sustained output in the cold.

@Geordie my static van inverter died in February and I panic-bought a Renogy 2000W off Amazon — three years later it's still the "temporary" one 😅